Warren Buffett to buy Duracell from Procter & Gamble

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway has agreed to buy the Duracell battery business from Procter & Gamble PG, a deal that comes less than a month after the consumer-products giant said it would shed the asset.

Berkshire Hathaway, a conglomerate that owns insurance, railroad, retailers and other businesses, said it expects the deal to close by the end of the second half of next year. The deal terms are a bit complex: P&G has agreed to pump about $1.7 billion in cash into the Duracell company at closing, and in exchange, will receive about $4.7 billion in P&G stock currently held by Berkshire Hathaway.

Berkshire Hathaway is one of P&G’s top investors, owning 52.8 million in shares, or just under 2% of the total P&G stock outstanding according to Morningstar data.

“I have always been impressed by Duracell, as a consumer and as a long-term investor in P&G and Gillette,” Warren Buffett said in a prepared statement.

P&G late last month had indicated it would shed its Duracell brand, part of the company’s plan to slim down its product slate. P&G’s exit from Duracell began with an agreement to sell its interest in a China-battery joint venture, a deal that occurred in late August. Terms of that transaction weren’t disclosed, though P&G said it booked a charge of $932 million, which was related to that deal.

At the time, the second step hadn’t been finalized. P&G said it hoped to split off Duracell into a stand-alone business, but also said it would consider a sale or other alternatives if they “generated equal or better value.”